The present invention relates to a paper processing device for printing or marking documents.
The stamping, marking, printing or pagination of documents has been done in a limited number of ways. Original documents are most commonly marked with a manual Bates Stamp device consisting of a handle, a rubber or synthetic stamp and an inking pad. The rubber stamp is pushed down onto the document by depressing the handle. When the stamp lifts off of the document, the print pad automatically advances to the next consecutive number and is brought into contact with the inking pad. The user then flips to the next document by hand and manually depresses the handle down to contact the rubber stamp on the document.
Another method utilizes stickers which are sequentially numbered. The user manually releases the stickers from a preprinted sheet and sticks them onto documents, manually flipping over the documents once the sticker has been applied.
Automatic means have included passing original documents through a copy machine where the copy machine masks out a portion of the copy and inserts the stamp or mark. Thus, the stamp or mark does not appear on the original document but appears only on the copy (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,712,907 to Weinberger).
Deficiencies in the prior art are overcome by the present invention which is directed to a paper processing device comprising a document feeder, at least one print means for printing user determinable annotations on the documents, a print control computer for controlling the user determinable input and a stacker. A justifier is preferably included to provide a standardized edge for printing.
The invention provides that original documents can be individually fed into the device, justified to one edge, preferably the edge where user determinable annotations are to be printed, and stamped, marked or printed with a user determined annotation. Documents which have been so marked are then stacked in the order they are fed for removal from the device.
In its preferred embodiment, the device includes a second side print means for printing on the second side of a document. Most preferably, a second side detector, which optically scans the opposite side of a document to determine if there is printed material thereon, is used to determine when the second side should be printed on, as generally described in the patent application filed on Feb. 25, 2000 naming Joseph Weinberger and William Webb as inventors, claiming priority on Provisional Application No. 60/121,717.
It is preferred that a device with second side detect and printing means includes an inverter to turn the document over prior to printing on the opposite side. This further provides for stacking the processed documents in the original order that they are fed.
The print control computer provides that the various annotations for marking or stamping can be programmed by the operator. Thus, a job can be programmed with a series of words or numbers, interrupted with a different job, and later resumed where it was left off. To facilitate such interaction, a user keyboard and display are preferably incorporated to allow the user to control the stamps or marks being printed.
It is also preferred that a bar code reader be added for reading instructions for withholding a stamp on the sheet with a bar code. Such sheets can be used to designate, inter alia, when a group of documents should be stapled. The bar code sheet can be passed over for stamping to maintain sequential numbering of the documents.
In its most preferred embodiment, the device also includes one or more scanners to scan the images of the documents being marked. Storage means, such as a hard disc, floppy disc or writable CD would preferably be associated with the device to store the scanned images either as part of the device or external thereto. Similarly, the scanner can be associated with an external printer for printing the marked images.
Additional printing means can also be added as an option if the user desires that certain documents have a printed watermark or overstrike such as xe2x80x9cCONFIDENTIALxe2x80x9d or the like.
Also disclosed is a paper processing device having first and second print heads directed over the entire first and second sides of a page to use the device as a two-sided printer.